Winds of Change in Anaheim, Who is the Ducks Next Captain?

It started with the hiring of Pat Verbeek as new GM and kicked into full gear only 24 hours ago. Ryan Getzlaf, a 17-year veteran all with the Ducks and their captain since 2010 announced that at the end of the season he will be officially retiring. Getzlaf who holds several Ducks records and truly ushered in the next wave of great Ducks hockey following franchise icons Teemu Selanne, Scott Niedermayer and J.S Giguere. Getzlaf’s skates will be nearly impossible to fill but we here at PoaF looked at who should be rewarded with the next captain for the Anaheim Ducks.

TJ Watson

Ryan Getzlaf is the 2nd best captain behind Paul Kariya (PK9) in the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim/Anaheim Ducks franchise. He played lights out in the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, reached 1000 points in his career and led one of if not the most indelible comebacks in playoff history. To me he’s a Hall of Famer and his number should be retired to the Honda Center rafters in short order.

As for who should be the new captain. I think it should be like the Vegas Golden Knights operate, go with Cam Fowler and Adam Henrique as the two Assistant Captains. I think the young guys, (Troy Terry, Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale) need more time but in the future, they’ll be ready to take on the mantle. I see Zegras and Terry as the new Selanne and Kariya, they vibe off each other like the Finnish Flash and PK9 did way back when.

Brad Senecal

While it is definitely tough to see Getzlaf retire it is going to be even more interested to see who the Ducks pick as the new captain. When Scott Niedermayer retired, Getzlaf was clearly the obvious choice as he was the homegrown kid who quickly became one of the stars of the league. While Teemu Selanne was still part of the team and arguably the face of the franchise, Getzlaf was clearly being groomed into the role over the prior number of years.

Now the Ducks are in a very interesting place on the rebuilding end. Trevor Zegras is clearly the future of this franchise, but he is still just 20 years old and growing into the game. And while I am a huge fan of the Ducks new superstar, he just doesn’t have the same aura about him that Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, or Gabriel Landeskog did when they became young captains.

I am going to take the easy way out and pick Cam Fowler, but this is not just a default selection. Fowler, similar to Getzlaf, is a homegrown player that the team drafted in 2010 and has been rock solid on the blueline ever since. Now a 30-year-old veteran, he has been a leader for many years all whilst chasing the teams defensive records. While other veterans such as Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg are still with the team, Fowler has been an important piece to this team for a long time and is still signed for 4 more seasons. He is very deserving of being the captain moving forward.

Ben Thomasian

Well, it’s certainly a time for the Ducks faithful. For many, Getzlaf may be the only captain of the Ducks they’ve ever known. Many things can be said about this franchise great, however, as they say: “Out with the old and in with the new.” So now that the captain dad is gone, who’s next in line for the top job amongst the player group?

There’s a case to be made that a young player could take the reins of the team given they’ve in some ways just started a rebuild. The idea being, that they would grow with the team. However, of that young group, Troy Terry may be the only player who appears to be in the mix right now. Given that this is his first season as a full-time NHL player it may be prudent to hold back on him just for now. That other aspect is that the leadership of the team should be built on the back of experience, with that experience tutoring the youth, who in turn become the experience. Thus, perpetuating the cycle. Given this, I believe that giving a young player the captaincy is akin to the blind leading the blind. They may find their way, but will it be through luck or by design?

The greatest rugby team in modern history, the All Blacks, have an internal ‘motto’ of sorts, to leave the jersey in a better state when they leave to when they got there. This culture drives leadership at the ground level and builds it over time. With this in mind, I believe that there can only be two options for the Ducks captaincy.

Cam Fowler is one. As a good, but not all-star, defenseman, Fowler like Getzlaf before him has played for only the team that has drafted him. He’s seen multiple coaches, multiple defensive partners. He’s seen the good and he’s seen the bad. If the idea is that experience matters, there are no players on the Ducks roster who have experience with the Ducks that Fowler can boast. With a contract going long into the future, it seems he could be here for some time as well. At least as long as it takes for newcomers Jamie Drysdale and perhaps Olen Zellweger to supersede his offensive role on the blueline. The one thing that may hold the team back here is that Fowler has seemingly been groomed for captaincy for years, and yet by all appearances doesn’t have that on-ice presence that many captains have. That’s not to say he’s no leader, as it’s clear he is. The question is, what type of leader to the Ducks desire?

The other player in question is Adam Henrique. He wore an ‘A’ in New Jersey and has in Anaheim in recent times as well. He’s been an important part of the player group over the past five seasons and has become beloved by the fans. Perhaps most importantly, he appears to be about as calm as can possibly be. A fantastic demeanor in a leader, and particularly a leader of a team which going to see it’s fair share or rough nights. Even through last year’s up and down season when he was removed from the team and placed on waivers, he was unflappable. When the going is good, everything is always alright. However, when the going is tough, the players will look to the coach and the captain and emulate what they do. If the leaders are freaking out, the younger players will freak out with them. I can’t even imagine Henrique freaking out.

In the end, I think the team has seen the writing on the wall for Getzlaf’s career, and them moving Henrique into an on-ice leadership position this season shows what they think of him. Given the choice between Henrique and Fowler, and both are very reasonable choices, if only for a short few seasons, Henrique stands out to me as a captain. As a leader. The team’s on-ice results have declined over the past few seasons, it cannot be denied. But if I were to be asked if the team is in a better place because Henrique’s presence, I would say yes. He’ll leave the jersey in a better state than he when he arrived. For that reason, he’s my choice to lead this young Ducks team into the future.